Help Diagnosing Stiff Hands

I am a 42 year old male. I have been experiencing stiffness, aching and swelling in both hands for about a year now. I was tested positive for the Lupus antibody, so it was assumed I had Lupus related arthritis. However, none of the medicine (celebrex and steroids) worked. The rheumatologist did an MRI and discovered no problem with my joints and concluded that whatever was going on was not arthritis or lupus related. My regular Dr now has my on Lexapro and is thinking some form of fibromyalgia, but the medicine is not doing anything to relieve the symptoms either.

My hands are very swollen in the morning, and stiff and achy all the time, but gets gradually better during the day as they are used. I have had shoulder and hip pain for years too and neither chiropractic nor physical therapy has helped. I feel like and old man at 42! I am a guitar player so this significantly decreases my quality of life!

I am at my wits end and need some suggestions of other possible causes or solutions. Thanks!!!!

[Abhijeet Ghosh]

Dear Friend,
Based on your information, i can diagnose it as "Non specific Arthritis".

I would prefer you to meed a good Rheumatologist or take a second opinion.
Frequent swelling in the joints is not good.
And Orthopaedicians don't require MRI scans to diagnose an Arthritis.
SO i would highly recommend you to go for a second opinion.

Early morning joint swelling is a classical symptom or inflammatory arthritis and i think it should be dealt properly.
Always blood reports are not conclusive of the diagnosis.
The investigations done, helps the treating doctor to support the diagnosis.
We rely more on clinical features and co-relate with the blood results.
So would request you to take a second opinion.
Feel free to discuss further, if your query is unanswered.
Regards...

[rhiduk]

Thank you for your response.  The Dr. does not think the swelling is in the joints, that is why she did the MRI, to make sure that there was no deterioration in the joints.  Yet, my fingers are stiff and swollen every morning and I have have other pain that will not go away.  I've tried changing my diet to a "Zone" type diet and had no help there either.

[Abhijeet Ghosh]

all the best